Many shoddy search engine optimization (SEO) firms solicit their services by guaranteeing top placement in the search engines.  We’ve all received the unsolicited email messages (spam) about how they can move your website into the top position in no time at all.

Unfortunately, these fly by night spammers do not have direct relationships with any of the search engines.  Even worse, engaging with one of these unethical firms can get your website banned from the search engines, which is very difficult to reverse once your website has been flagged.

In reality, top notch SEO firms do relatively little marketing because they have more business than they can handle.  Real SEO firms get tons of referrals and speaking engagements so they can be highly selective about the engagements they accept.  And they would never promise, let alone guarantee, top listings in the search engines.

What are the signs that you are being solicited by an unethical SEO firm?

• Be wary of SEO firms that send you email out of the blue

Unsolicited emails for search engine optimization services should be treated with the same amount of consideration as blind emails for diet pills, Viagra, etc.  The typical email reads like this:

Dear Website Owner,
I visited your website and noticed that you are not listed in most of the major search engines…..

• No firms can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google.

No SEO firms have a special relationship with Google.  None.  Ignore guarantees as a bogus claim.

• Avoid firms that promise to use special software to automatically submit your website to the search engines.

The major search engines do not want software programs automatically submitting websites to them.  They view it as spam and treat these submittals accordingly.

• Avoid invisible text and hiding text

Making text on a Web site page invisible, making it the same color as the Web page background, and hiding text behind layers is an old technique that is obvious to search engines and will get your Web site penalized.

• Be careful of SEO firms that want to use cloaking as a tool.

The search engines hate Web sites that use doorway pages and deceptive redirects that unethical firms use to trick the search engines.  If you get caught, your site will be banned.

In a nutshell, no SEO company can guarantee where your Web site will appear within the natural (organic) search engine results. Organic search engine optimization takes months and ongoing effort to deliver improved results.

Part of the reason is that the major search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN) keep their algorithms closely guarded to keep anyone from gaming the system and manipulate rankings.  The major search engines ultimate goal is to deliver the best Web sites that match your search, not deliver the Web sites that cheat the system the best.

Like hiring other professional service firms, always check references before engaging with an SEO firm. And your contract should state that the firm will stay within the guidelines recommended by each major search engine.